Exactly correct. We are an 8-4 level program. It's been that way for years and I've posted that for years. The minor variances don't matter at all, like pulling out the unlikely games in 2017 toward an artificially good record, or losing the close games this season toward a misleadingly poor record.
During recruiting and everything else the expectation should be 8-4 level. That is where we are and where we logically fit.
The problem around here is the absurd degree of hype in the offseason, leading posters to somehow believe we have elite talent level. Meanwhile all you have to do is attend one game and look at the players, look at the body types. It is one sloppy mediocre athlete after another. Anyone who has stood on the sideline or attended practice of a great roster can detect the difference almost immediately. That's why you have old coaches like **** Vermeil attending college practices and instantly assessing the talent level. I remember watching USC practices at Howard Jones Memorial Field when I was a student. Those teams looked the part. Bobby Beathard would be standing there raving about one player after another, even if he never heard of them before watching that practice. This Canes team doesn't qualify at all. Yeah, we'll have some players on NFL rosters. That is base normalcy for an 8-4 program.
But as I've posted many times the gap between fringe NFL players and these ACC Coastal rivals is not much of anything. If you brought a European into the stadium who didn't know the first thing about football they wouldn't have sat there yesterday saying one team has vastly superior manpower to the other. Logical overview can pick out that type of thing. The people who makes mistakes are the ones who fixate on every detail all season. They are guaranteed to butcher the big picture time and again. They can't believe that this recruit they have followed for 4 years isn't dominating, alongside the other guy they have followed for 4 years.
There is no reason to believe we are rebuilding anything. That era is gone. The only chance to fool the nation briefly is to find a freak quarterback and collection of skill position players who can pull out the close games and help raise the program maybe back to 2004 level.
caneswarning.com
